Liam Byrne: I am today placing in the Library copies of the report "A review of the failure of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate to consider some foreign national prisoners for deportation", conducted by Stuart Hyde, former Senior Director for Enforcement and Compliance, now Assistant Chief Constable in the West Midlands Police, together with the first annual business plan of the Border and Immigration Agency.
	In addition, the Chief Executive of the Border and Immigration Agency, Lin Homer, has today written to the Home Affairs Select Committee providing them with a breakdown of the most accurate and robust information currently available to the Department of progress in considering the 1,013 foreign national prisoners released without deportation consideration.
	The annual business plan, together with the Action Plan on the Hyde Report sets out the progress the Border and Immigration Agency has made over the last 12 months and the further reforms required by Ministers for the year ahead. I am grateful to the staff of the Border and Immigration Agency for their work over the last year and their ambition for further progress.
	I can also update the House today on progress made in response to the Home Secretary's eight priority areas set out on 23 May 2006.
	First, the Home Secretary identified the issue that there was no unique personal identifier for individuals who come in to contact with the criminal justice, immigration and asylum systems and asked officials to explain how this could change. Secondly, he identified that there was no legal obligation on people who are suspected, charged or convicted to declare their nationality. To address this, the Chief Executive of the Border and Immigration Agency has, in collaboration with the Metropolitan Police, designed new ways of working which are now being tested. Nationality is verified at the point of charge and from that point, the Police National Computer number is used as a unique number identifying the individual as they pass through the criminal justice system. We continue to assess this as the pilot progresses.
	Thirdly, the Home Secretary said that all future instructions should be given to all agencies of the criminal justice system and be consistent and fully implemented. I can confirm to the House that new instructions have been issued to all agencies. Guidance is continually reviewed and the Border and Immigration Agency now continues to work in partnership with criminal justice agencies to ensure consistency.
	Action point four identified that the criteria under which individuals should be considered for deportation were not clear. Policy officials were ordered to audit trail all policy criteria and the process by which they ensure that guidance is both clear and consistently applied. I can confirm to the House that this has been undertaken.
	Fifthly, the Home Secretary asked that deportation decisions be made according to the most robust interpretation of the requirements of our international obligations. The UK Borders Bill now proposes a new link between criminality and deportation in the way that we want and the public would expect. That legislation is currently being steered through Parliament.
	Managers were instructed under action point six to work with colleagues in Scotland and Northern Ireland to audit the numbers of foreign national prisoners released in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Home Secretary asked that clear procedures for dealing with prisoners held in Scotland and Northern Ireland were written and followed. I can confirm that this has been undertaken, and officials assure me it is operating well. They have further assured me that no foreign prisoner is released from prison in Scotland and Northern Ireland without their deportation case being considered. The Border and Immigration Agency continues to work closely with our Scottish and Northern Irish colleagues to ensure this is kept under review.
	Seventhly, the Home Secretary explained that historically there have never been systematic arrangements in place for collecting information on mentally disordered offenders. He also explained in May last year that this is a hugely difficult group to deal with. Taking in to consideration the very specific circumstances of these individuals, officials have assured me that no Mentally Disordered Offender is removed from restriction without being considered for deportation. There is now a dedicated case working team in place in the Border and Immigration Agency's Criminal Casework Directorate to assess this particular group.
	Finally, the Home Secretary asked that arrangements were enhanced to facilitate the return of prisoners earlier in their sentence, including prisoner transfer agreements. The Border and Immigration Agency has launched a scheme, which I announced on 9 October 2006, the Facilitated Returns Scheme, to incentivise prisoners to go home sooner, whether time-served, under the Early Removal Scheme, or under a Prisoner Transfer Agreement. The scheme has been very successful in returning more foreign national prisoners home and continues to do so.

Harriet Harman: My right hon. and noble Friend the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice has today made the following written ministerial statement.
	"I wish to update you on the development of the UK Supreme Court in the light of recent progress.
	The Supreme Court Implementation Programme is on target to deliver the Supreme Court at Middlesex Guildhall in time for the start of the legal year in October 2009.
	We achieved two major milestones in our programme in the course of the last week. Firstly we reached agreement with Westminster City Council to discharge all the necessary Planning Conditions to allow us to start renovation of the Middlesex Guildhall Secondly, we reached Financial Close with Kier Group plc, our preferred bidder, to carry out the renovation of the Middlesex Guildhall as the new UK Supreme Court. As a consequence we started work on 13 June 2007.
	This signals a major step forward in the creation of the Supreme Court in a place that is separate from the Houses of Parliament. Establishing the Supreme Court at the Middlesex Guildhall will symbolise the separation of powers between the judiciary and legislature. It is an opportunity to breathe new life into a fine historic building and to keep the building, which otherwise could not have continued in the long term as a Crown Court, in use as a centre for Justice, It also means greater visibility for the highest Court in the United Kingdom and improved accessibility for all members of the public.
	The renovation plans are heavily influenced by conservation. Conservation architects Feilden+Mawson developed the plans in conjunction with the Law Lords, Westminster City Council, English Heritage and many other interested groups.
	Today, we have published images on our web site:
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/whatwedo/supremecourt.htm that illustrate our plans in more detail. I invite you to view the pages to see the balance that has been struck between creating a home that reflects the importance of such an institution and capitalises on the building's historic features.
	I said that I would update the house on costs; as soon as we reached financial close with Kier Group and that is what I am now doing. On December 14 2004, Official Report, House of Lords, column 117WS, volume 428, I announced that the cost of running the Supreme Court would be approximately £8.4 million per annum at 2004-05 prices. This would be the equivalent of £10.4 million at 2010-2011 prices, the first full year of the Supreme Court's operations. We have refined these estimates based on our developing understanding of the building design and business requirements. Our estimate of the running costs is £12.3 million per annum at 2010-11 prices and is set out in the table.
	
		
			 Running Costs WMS2004 WMS 2004inflated* WMS 2007 Increase (Cost growth) 
			  £m £m £m £m 
			 Judicial Salaries 2.1 2.6 2.6 Nil 
			 Staff costs 1.1 1.4 1.9 0.5 
			 Admin (inc. security) 1.0 1.2 2.3 1.1 
			 Utilities and rates 0.4 0.5 0.5 Nil 
			 Building Costs (inc. Cost of Capital, Depreciation, lease charge and lifecycle costs) 3.8 4.7 5.0 0.3 
			 Total 8.4 10.4 12.3 1.9 
			 * Assumes inflation rate of 3.5 per cent. per annum to first full year of operation - i.e. 2010-11 
		
	
	The Middlesex Guildhall project will be carried out using a lease and lease-back arrangement where the capital construction costs will be met over a 30-year period. Having reached financial close we can announce the real cost in terms of an annual rental figure. The annual rent to be paid by Ministry of Justice to Kier will be £2.1 million per annum, increasing at a rate of 2.5 per cent. per annum, for a period of 30 years from completion of the works and is included in the Building Costs above. This is less than the comparative figure included in the Building Cost (£3.8 million in table above) quoted in my statement of December 2004.
	In December 2004, we estimated the capital construction costs to renovate the Guildhall as approximately £30 million (£36.9 million when inflated). This previous figure was established on the basis of a traditional procurement and included VAT. On a like-for-like basis the capital construction costs of the renovation are now expected to be £36.7 million This is within the costs announced in that statement. As I pointed out in my written ministerial statement of October 2006, this figure did not include Ministry of Justice professional adviser fees and the non-capital element of the fit out costs including loose furniture, IT services and library books. These set-up costs related to the Middlesex Guildhall are expected to be an additional £14.3 million. The Ministry of Justice programme team will cost a further £5.9 million over the five years of the programme.
	Significant progress has also been made since my last statement to ensure that there is minimal impact on the London criminal justice system following the closure of the seven Crown courtrooms at Middlesex Guildhall on 30 March 2007. The number of Crown Court sitting days in London has not been affected by the closure and work undertaken by the courts is now allocated to nearby court centres. In December 2006, following a successful appeal, the Department obtained planning consent for the construction of additional courtrooms at the Isleworth Crown Court Centre. The additional courtrooms will replace the loss in overall capacity by the closure of the Middlesex Guildhall. We are currently in commercial negotiations with Geoffrey Osborne (Building) over the plans and costs for the development at Isleworth. Our current plans are to commence construction in summer 2007 and open the new courts in the spring of 2009."

Margaret Hodge: I have decided to reappoint the Bryan Jackson as chair of the East Midlands Development Agency for a further three years. The reappointment will begin on 14 December 2007 and will expire on 13 December 2010. I have placed further details of this reappointment in the Library of both Houses. This reappointment was made in accordance with the code of practice of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
	Biography
	Dr. Bryan Jackson OBE FRSA
	Bryan was appointed chair of East Midlands Development Agency in December 2004.
	He retired from the position of managing director of Toyota Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd. in 2004, after 14 years, having spent the previous 23 years with Ford Motor Company. During his career, he has worked in many disciplines holding senior positions and managing several different plants in the UK and Europe covering the full range of vehicle manufacturing.
	He was chairman of the East Midlands Regional Council of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) in 2000-02 and he is active in the field of economic development and education, both locally and nationally.
	As well as being chairman of EMDA, Bryan sits on the DTI Manufacturing Forum, Strategic Forum Olympic Task Group and is a board member of Industry Forum.
	He is currently an adviser to Toyota Motor Europe, as well as chairman of Total Motivation, a company specialising in efficiency and personal development and Deputy Chairman of Unipart Manufacturing Group.